Missing an absolutely golden opportunity to win two innings earlier, the Harrisburg Senators dropped a tough 9-7 decision to Altoona in 11 innings late Saturday night in the second of an Eastern League doubleheader at Metro Bank Park.

Charlie Cutler's two-out double in the top of the 11th scored two runs, as the Curve (7-9) earned a doubleheader split with the host Senators (9-7).

Harrisburg, which trailed 7-3 in the fourth inning, scored four in the home half of the fourth to tie. Then, with extra innings already in play -- the game was scheduled for seven -- the Senators loaded the bases with nobody out in the ninth. But a strikeout and a lineout double play ended the threat, and the game kept on going.

It was 12:30 a.m. by the time it finished, with only the diehards from a crowd of 3,947 on hand to witness the bitter end.

TURNING POINT

Mel Rojas singled off Marcos Frias (0-2) to open the 11th, and Matt Curry's hard grounder was misplayed by 2B Ricky Hague for an error to put runners on first and second. A wild pitch moved them up to second and third, but Frias rebounded to strike out the next two batters. Cutler, though, launched a double to deep center to score both Rojas and Curry with the winning runs.

Harrisburg got its leadoff man on in the bottom of the 11th against Jeff Inman (1-0), but the next two batters -- Destin Hood and Justin Bloxom -- flew out to the warning track, and Randoph Oduber struck out to close it.

Stay tuned for a Notebook & Numbers post from this doubleheader, which started with a 4-1 Senators win. We'll also have some quotes from manager Matt LeCroy coming soon.